O Professor e a Corista

I'm not much of a fan of Hollywood musicals (especially the bloated 50s variety--you can keep Kiss Me Kate, thank you) but there is something riveting about this film that is rather hard to explain. The script is sharply written and the songs are reasonably good, but the capper for me are the production numbers. Watching Gene Nelson bound around a gymnasium is a truly thrilling experience. If you think this is merely another one of President Ronnie's bad films, think again. With its candy cane Technicolor, snappy dialogue, and big productions, it's almost a pre-rock The Girl Can't Help It--and that can only be a good thing!

I thought this movie was good. I was on vacation and I was staying one night in Zurich, and this just happened to be on TV. I couldn't stop watching it. It was really good, I never knew Ronald Reagan was such a good actor, I just thought of him as a president, nothing else, go figure.

Anyway, if ever you are bored and looking for an amusing movie, this one will do you good. Even though it takes place in the early 1950s it is still really good. I didn't see the very beginning of the movie though, but everything I saw I liked, so thats that.

This film may be seen as a rather slight offering in the musical genre of the early 50's; however, it's been a favorite film of mine since I first saw it years ago. Virginia Mayo sparkles as Angela, a sincere girl who wants to attend college, but has to work in burlesque as "Hot Garters Gertie" to earn the money. Ronald Reagan is her professor, and thankfully, the film is less concerned with his career woes (being passed over for promotions at the college, a rivalry with the football coach, etc.) than it is with the college kids and the musical numbers. Gene Nelson is handsome and an excellent dancer, and Patrice Wymore has the right degree of archness as "Poison Ivy". The musical numbers are a lot of fun, especially "With Plenty of Money and You" (Virginia, clad in gold fringe, pulls out the stops for her burlesque number), "I'll Still Be Loving You" (Virginia and Gene sing the cute romantic number in class), and the title song. It's a film I can enjoy watching again and again.

Whilst Miss Mayo's singing voice is obviously dubbed, her first appearance as Hot Garters Gertie signals an exuberance and promise the movie doesn't quite fulfill. This opening production number emerges as the film's best, despite a very bland, mechanical orchestra which manages to become even more limpid as the action progresses, undermining what would otherwise have emerged as reasonably lively and diverting musical interludes. Nonetheless, the emphasis is definitely on the songs—both old and new—rather than the action and dialogue of the original stage play. The movie certainly packs in plenty of "color" and lots of legs.

Ronald Reagan gives a credible account of the Henry Fonda role and even comes over convincingly in his "Male Animal" speech, even if it is allowed to run a little too long. The other players are way outclassed. Don DeFore, upgraded to the Jack Carson character, in particular proves no match at all.

Credits are slick but squeaky clean. Although Gene Nelson dances up a storm, the musical orchestrations, as noted above, lack pizazz. In fact, the new songs are totally unmemorable. A pity the producer failed to use more of the old standards like "As Time Goes By" which is given a very appealing rendition here by the gifted vocalist, Bonnie Lou Williams.

This is a color musical remake of Warners' classic "The Male Animal". In this version, Henry Fonda is replaced by everyone's favorite future President, Ronald Reagan. Reagan is again cast as a college professor, after his brilliant performance in "Bedtime for Bonzo". Musical-comedy was certainly not Reagan's strong point, but he is not embarrassing at all in this splashy color remake. And Bonzo is nowhere in sight. The "I'll Be Loving You" number, written by expert songwriters Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, is a standout. I find it hilarious that Virginia Mayo's singing is dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams, Gene Nelson's singing is done by Hal Derwin, but the Pres sings his one line in the number for himself. I believe it is Reagan's only performance in a full production musical number. Thank goodness he was not asked to dance! Mayo and Nelson do that very well on their own. It is surprising that none of the Duke-Cahn songs from this film became standards. Their songs in this film, as well as Warner's "April in Paris" are first rate.